REVIEWS FROM THE NEW ALBUM, "BLOOD".
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Sirhan Sirhan Review from Greg Prato of Billboard
Although it may appear otherwise, not all up and coming hard rock bands of the early 21st century are either whiny emo boys or hardcore tough guys. The proof being the San Diego trio, Sirhan Sirhan. The two bands that prove to be Sirhan's biggest influence are Black Flag and the Melvins -- which can be detected by guitar riffs that combine the ‘stop and start' style a la the former band, and also the sheer power and industrial strength riffs size of the latter. And the same man that supplies the brutal riffage is also the singer -- Mr. Jason Blackmore -- who has no problem supplying all the necessary shouts and screams (but again, not in a common style of modern day hard rock vocalists). As a result, such tracks as "Rise," "Decapitate/Disintegrate," and "Time to Bleed" bring to mind the wild mosh pits of yore (we're talking ‘Decline of Western Civilization' era) -- not the modern day ones comprised primarily of angry meatheads. It's good to know that there are still new bands that have obviously studied the classics, and aren't settling for the pabulum peddled on TV and radio. So much so that you'll be willing to overlook the fact that the backcover of ‘Blood' is a rip off of Initium by Samhain.
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Sirhan Sirhan Review from Decoymusic.com
From start to finish, Blood offers you 11 tracks of volatile compositions that are unparalleled in modern music. These native Midwest boys have conclusively mastered the ingenuity of noise rock. The distorted, loudmouthed vocals crossbred with the jarring guitar riffs make for an impeccable dichotomy of fusion and entropy.
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Sirhan Sirhan Review from strandedinstereo.com
Sirhan Sirhan
Blood..
By Jose Fritz..
The real Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was a Rosicrucian and an obsessive, emotionally unstable assassin. How much he changed the future of America cannot be fathomed. But the basics are this: Robert F. Kennedy had won the California primary minutes before his murder and would have gone on to the presidential election. In 1968, George Wallace ran as an independent and took Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia from Nixon. RFK would have swept the balance and likely become our 37th president.
We would never have escalated Vietnam, there would have been no Watergate, nor an impeachment so no President Ford. Without Ford there was no Ford/Reagan feud and therefore no rise of Reagan. No Reagan means no Vice President George H.W. Bush, which also rules out Junior. Meaning ultimately, Junior would not have fucked the dog, leaving America crippled, broke and a shadow of its former self. Naming yourself for Sirhan Sirhan is in effect, reaching into history and finding the single most vile cocksucker responsible for the decline of the most powerful nation in the free world.
One of the original primary functions of rock n' roll was to offend, to horrify shock and appall the more sensitive and delicate members of the human race. This theme reached it's apex with the Misfits song "Last Caress" first released on the eve of the dark decade in 1979.
I got something to say, I killed your baby today
And it doesn't matter much to me, As long as its dead
Well I got something to say, I raped your mother today
And it doesn't matter much to me, As long as she's spread
Its function was to exist as a raw affront to our shared value system. It is an artistic statement too, but point being, this was as far as we got. Alice Cooper's theatrics, G.G. Allin's fecalphilia, Cannibal Corpse's necrophilia and Marilyn Manson's faux Satanism didn't ever match it. Sirhan Sirhan make the most sincere attempt in 25 years and succeed in their name alone.
It's a strong start for a metalcore band. From there they become sonically overwhelming: thick without being muddy, discordant without being dissonant, violent yet technically sound. The sheer density defies comparison. In other words, this band is about as subtle as an amputee juggling three running gas-powered chainsaws. There is blood, there is violence, there is sweat drenched flailing and then there is Sirhan Sirhan. Jason Blackmore has returned and he is really pissed.
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Sirhan Sirhan review from live-metal.net
By JEFF MAKI
Every so often, for whatever reason, I get completely blown away by a certain album. Usually it's by an artist I'm hearing for the first time and that in turn makes it even more exciting. Sirhan Sirhan's Blood is the latest album to do this. I was on my way home from my day job when I heard this, tired and worn out from another endless day and Blood turned out to be the antidote I needed to let out my angst and frustration. Sirhan Sirhan is a trio made up of Jason Blackmore (vocals/guitar), Mike Johnston (bass, backing vocals) and Alex Organ (drums). The band formed in San Diego in 2005 hoping to resurrect the underground rock scene in SoCal. Their sound is a noisy concoction of hardcore punk, alternative rock and metal. If one word best describes their sound, it's distortion. It reminds me a lot of Butthole Surfers, especially in the vocal department and nonstop guitar riffs and fuzz. Blackmore has that crazy and wacky vocal style like the Surfers' Gibby Haynes. This guy is really cuckoo. You never know what he's going to do next. Other comparisons can be made to Bad Brains, The Melvins and Bleach-era Nirvana.
The album is downright filthy, noisy, and aggressive. The hardcore noise anthems "Rise" and "Burn It Down" are my two new favorite songs. Blood's 11 songs run barely more than 25 minutes (and the closer "Don't Shoot" makes up 5:48 of that), a perfect length for this style of music. It's just long enough to give you that much needed slap-in-the-face wake-up call, then have you craving for more. Blood could have been released in 1994 and I wouldn't have known the difference. So many classic metal and alternative rock albums came out around that time and this album has that nostalgic feel. The best part about Blood is that it's completely unpredictable. The songs are memorable and they don't all follow the run of the mill verse-chorus-verse format. If this album is reflective of the band members' personalities, the boys in Sirhan Sirhan should be a lot of fun to hang out with (and potentially dangerous). Much like listening to Blood, serious injury could occur.
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Sirhan Sirhan Review from thepunksite.com
Listen, before I start blasting away at Blood and nitpicking the hell out of Sirhan Sirhan, let me say this: for a three-piece, they're putting out one hell of a complicated racket, one that's fully formed and not even close to a carbon-copy of other bands. While there are various elements that may sound fleetingly similar to other groups, trust me, those parts only last for a second or two. Sirhan Sirhan's managed to cohere themselves into something that's entirely their own, and in this day and age – armed only with a guitar, a bass, a few drums and what's probably about a million effects pedals – that in itself is a goddamn feat.
So, as far as how they actually sound, and what they're actually doing… think of the frenetic angularity of a band like Botch combined with the flat-out dirtiness and menace of, say, the Jesus Lizard. Picture HR from Bad Brains howling through a mouthful of staples into a PA with the reverb and/or delay frequently in the red. Recognize the fact that Sirhan Sirhan songs aren't so much songs as they are a million totally nutty tech parts strung together into a two-minute jam, with vocalist/guitarist Jason Blackmore screeching like an infuriated troll over the din of it all. Like I said, the musicianship is flawless – it's also totally chaotic, insane, laden with those aforementioned effects and, admittedly, punchy as hell every once in a while. The unfortunate thing is that every time they find a riff that manages to be both punishing and catchy, the band feels the need to play it for maybe ten seconds and then switch stuff up to some other only-vaguely-related section. Standard song structures, for better or worse, are not really something that seems to interest this band all that much. Frankly, if I had to sum up Blood, I'd say it sounds a bit like what you'd hear while riding gaily about on a calliope, if they had calliopes in hell.
If you're into any of the aforementioned bands, the Sybil-esque multiple personalities of the Butthole Surfers, or the screech and pummel of many of the bands on, say, GSL's roster, these guys will probably do wonders for you. It was way too fractured and crazed for my more pedestrian tastes, but there's no discounting the fact that they're throwing some mean sonic darts out there.
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Corazine review on Sirhan Sirhan
Anodyne Records has unleashed a face-smack of blastfuck energy upside your head. Sirhan Sirhan finds at the root of its being discordant, violent yet technically so metalcore. Its density will snag some fans from the headbanging corner of the stoner crowd and its sheer ferocity will lure in those who simply like music that's heavy all around - thick production, fast, hard, loud, angry, all that good stuff. Sirhan Sirhan dips into a pool oft-visited but dunks its own purification tablets into its drink first.
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